Morgans

Before arriving in Nha Trang we had caught wind of a mud spa experience. We visited a travel expo located near the backpacker street in Ho Chi Minh and picked up a brochure and were happy with the prices of the packages. Upon arriving in Nha Trang we talked with our guesthouse owners about what activities we wanted to do while here and they kindly gave us an extra 5% discount card to use.

The Thap Ba Spa is the oldest mud and hot spring facility in Nha Trang. It is famous for it’s therapeutic healing powers of the mud and hot springs and we were excited to partake. We decided we would leave early in the morning and arrive at opening time hoping that it would be quieter at this time in the morning.

The taxi ride was about 15 minutes from our guesthouse out the back of town and through some local villages. We arrived just after opening time and decided we would take the communal mud spa and mineral bath option. It cost around $35 USD for all 6 of us which included a communal mud spa experience, mineral hot pools and entrance to the four other pools in the complex.

We visited 3 places in Cambodia. We started in Siem Reap after making an overland journey from Thailand. The next place was Battambang only a 3 hour ride west of Siem Reap and we finished off our tour of Cambodia in the capital Phnom Penh.

Battambang pleasantly surprised us. It was not on our original list of places to visit in Cambodia but as we just come from Thailand we decided to forgo Sihanoukville and Koh Rong for Battambang.

We loved the small town vibe of the place and that there were not many tourists here. We were also impressed by the activities that we could do with our children while here as there is so much more to see and do in Cambodia than just the temple of Angkor Wat. The following are some of our favorites that we took our kids to.

Koh Samui is an Island situated in the Gulf of Thailand about 700km South of Bangkok. Koh Samui is a beautiful island blessed with many beautiful beaches. The island is about 25 km long and 20 km wide and you can drive around the whole island in a couple of hours.

While you can stay on a Koh Samui beach without transport, it is best to have your own wheels as taxis are very expensive and having a car means you have the freedom to explore the many beautiful beaches on the island. We enjoyed having a vehicle when in Samui as we could go to a different beach everyday.

We visited many different beaches during our two week stay on the island and here is a list of the most family friendly ones.

We spent $726 USD over 9 days while visiting Malaysia. That works out to $81 USD a day or $13.50 per person per day for our family of six.

During our brief visit, we explored Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur and enjoyed a a few western luxuries that we had been missing while travelling. We visited Johor Bahru for 3 days to go to Legoland and the Legoland waterpark. Next we headed up to Kuala Lumpur by bus and spent 6 nights there. The following includes our summary of traveling to these two destinations in Malaysia as a family.